Infused with Creativity

I finally got around to trying a fusing plastic bags tutorial I saw online, and it's AMAZING!

After an extremely long and stressful day I decided to unwind with some sewing, but sadly the folks below me weren't having it (banging on the ceiling, etc) so I lay out two layers of canvas, cut up some (3-4) plastic bags and ironed them. It took a while to get the iron hot enough, and I accidentally touched the iron to some of the plastic at one point, which is now permanently adhered, but all in all it was super simple.

The fused plastic isn't what I expected. It feels more like a paper bag than plastic, and I can't tear it to save my life. My next project is going to be making grocery tote bags out of the pieces, assuming I don't have problems sewing it. It cuts easily enough. I think my favorite part is that when you hold it up to the light you can see all the pieces it was made out of.

Etsy Store Prep

It has been a struggle to make myself create things for the specific purpose of posting them on etsy and making myself some extra money. The designs that float around in my head are unique, time consuming, and rare and creating without inspiration is taxing.

Despite this I have decided to dedicate one day a week to working on new projects for etsy. I'm starting out the store with bags similar to those I have already made so that I can several put up at once.

Finished this one today, and I'm in the middle of two others.

On my birthday last week my father gave me a $100 gift certificate to Vogue Fabrics in Evanston. To be honest I would have rather taken the $100 to buy food and pay down debt, but since it has already been designated I will aspire to turn that $100 into much more than its value with remnants.

There will be new bags and shirts up on my etsy account just as soon as I finish them.

Inspiration

I have recently discovered that when I look for stencils or inspiration I seem to find the best images through istockphoto, so I went ahead and signed up for a free account. Their search options are very extensive with my favorite being the "color and copyspace" search option below any photo which allows you to specify one or more categories.

Every image I find inspiring I save to my lightbox and now I can go back and remember all the ideas I had while thumbing through these pages.

Here are some of my favorites. I seem to be particularly drawn to colorful retro vectors at the moment.

Getting out there

I've been posting my creations and "how to's" on a site called Cut Out + Keep. I really like it because its a little more user friendly than crafster and there are a lot of really interesting projects across the spectrum with step by step instructions.

Here's one new project I finished. There are How To's on a couple of these on my Cut Out + Keep Site if anyone wants to try it. Baseball T from Obama turned into halter. I like this one a lot. :)

Also started on another tube top and made a skirt made from pants.

La la la selling stuff

New Etsy Store! Yay!

First Top: Tubetop

Earrings from Etsy: $ 2.50
Necklace from Mom: Free
Feeling sexy in a top you made from scratch: Priceless
















Back and inside aren't as nice as the front, but I still love it. Made the pattern myself. I really need a dress form so I stop using myself and poking my sides with pins as I take things off.
Next project: Reclaimed tshirts like the one below from Craftster.

New Bag.
Woot.
Made the pattern myself. I'm not sure I can sell stuff like this on Etsy because the sewing isn't that professional. Maybe it wouldn't matter if I sold it for cheap. Hows $8 sound?
Next on the agenda - clothes!